Not every candidate may favour it, but tomorrow's European election ballot papers will carry photographs of all the runners - thanks to a Mayo man by the name of Ernie Sweeney.
Mr Sweeney, who describes himself as a "too talkative former illiterate", campaigned for 16 years to have the ballot paper changed to cater for those voters with literacy difficulties.
The new design has been introduced by the Department of the Environment on a pilot basis, and may be extended to cover general elections if successful. It may also become the norm in all EU member-states in the next European Parliament elections. It does not apply to the local election ballot papers.
Photos were used on ballot papers in the first free elections in South Africa, but it took considerable badgering by Mr Sweeney to convince the authorities of its merits here. A Castlebar man, born and bred, and working with St Vincent de Paul, he says he only learned to read and write at the age of 27.
"I was one of the many casualties of an educational system which has left 25 per cent of the population with literacy difficulties," Mr Sweeney said. When he first suggested that people had a constitutional right to such a visual aid, he says he was "laughed at and misunderstood".
Having won over the National Agency for Literacy, he managed to convince SIPTU, which adopted the idea about five years ago for its 32-county elections. With the support of sitting Mayo TDs - all with enough good looks to be enthusiastic about the idea - he put his case to an Oireachtas committee.
Mr Sweeney was nominated for a Mayo person of the year in 1998 for his efforts.
